


I Know You Don't Speak My Language

by shushlot



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Light Angst, M/M, Pining, Some Humor, y/n doesn't end up with anyone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-14 08:19:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29167926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shushlot/pseuds/shushlot
Summary: A Weishennie/Wayzenni (y/n) attends a music composition/arrangement workshop in the big city. There, she makes an unexpected acquaintance.
Relationships: Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten & Xiao De Jun | Xiao Jun
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	I Know You Don't Speak My Language

**Author's Note:**

> It's my first written... anything, so idk what I'm supposed to tag. It's nothing racy, though. 
> 
> Read at your own risk (?)
> 
> Honestly, it shouldn't be that bad. Idk. Enjoy?

“This concludes the first section of our workshop. We’ve provided some refreshments outside. Please return in an hour for part two,” announced the speaker. It’s been tough trying to understand everything that he’s been saying through the mask, but you honestly didn’t mind. 

You were pretty bummed when you realized that the free annual music composition/arrangement workshop in your hometown was cancelled due to the pandemic. Thankfully, your supportive mother got you a ticket to an even better one in the big city. The workshop is even implementing safety precautions where all the participants are required to be tested negative for covid prior to attending, all participants must wear masks throughout the seminar, and during the workshop, everyone’s spread out according to the health and safety guidelines. Plus, not having to see anyone else’s face is actually helping with your anxiety about being in an unfamiliar city all by yourself (even though your sister’s in the car waiting for you).

You finally reach the refreshments area and notice that they only had some individually packaged chips and bottles of coffee, teas, and juices spread out. You realize that those won’t fill you up at all, so you decide to call your sister to get you actual food.

“What?” She answers. 

“Where are you? I wanna get food,” you reply, a little short due to the hunger.

“I thought they were gonna provide food?” 

“Yeah, but they only have chips and some drinks.”

“Ohh..”

“Wait, where are you?”

“Okay, don’t be mad.. But I decided to drive around and now I’m at a park on the other side of the city. It’ll take me a while to get back.”

“What the hell, man?” Now you’re really annoyed.

“I said don’t get mad! Plus, your thing was gonna be an all day thing. Did you really expect me to just sit around in the parking lot for that long?”

You realize she’s right. If you were in her shoes you would have definitely done the same thing, so you decide to forgive her.

“Oh! There’s a really good burger joint at like a 5-minute walking distance from the place. I grabbed some food there before driving off and it’s super tasty. You should try it!” Your sister suggests.

“What??! I’m not gonna walk around the city by myself! It’s scary out here! What if I get *whispers*kidnapped*whispers*?”

You can hear your sister laugh on the other end. “Oh my god, you’ve seen too many crime shows. It’s not even that far away from you. Sheesh!”

“Ugh, fine. But only cause I’m really hungry! And I’m sharing my location with you in case anything happens to me and you guys have to come look for me.”

“Yeah, yeah,” She replies, completely done with the conversation. “Bye!”

You hang up and look back at the refreshments. You don’t really want the chips, but earlier you saw some mocha flavored drinks, and definitely want to try some before leaving. You see the last one on the table and reach your hand out to grab it, when another hand also reaches out for the same bottle. You let out a small yelp.

You look up and see the face of a man covered in his face mask. He has a beautiful set of bushy brows and eyes that draw you in. There’s almost a familiarity to the man, but you shook off the feeling, because you don’t know anyone in the city, at least not anyone that looks that good. Well, you technically don’t know what he looks like, but you can just tell he’s got to be handsome.

“Oh, sorry,” he apologizes, pulling his hand back. His voice is as handsome as his face (hypothetically) and he has a bit of an accent, which really adds to his charm.

“Oh my god, no! I’m sorry!” You apologize back. “You can have that one. I’ll just take the.. Uhh…” You scan the tables of drinks and pick the first one you saw on the other side. “That one! The… matcha..?” 

You slowly move toward the drink when the man suddenly yells, “Matcha!” You look back at him and he now looks a bit embarrassed. 

“Sorry,” he says, “I didn’t mean to yell. I was actually looking for matcha, but couldn’t find it, so I went for mocha.”

“Oh, then go ahead,” you reply ponting at the drink. “I actually really wanted the mocha, so this is working out great.” 

He lightly chuckles under his mask and heads towards the matcha bottle as you grab the mocha. Then your stomach rumbles so loud that even the handsome stranger can hear it. Now he’s laughing while grabbing his matcha bottle. You can tell he’s trying to suppress his laughter to be polite, but he laughed even more when he sees you laughing as well.

You don’t know what came over you, but a surge of confidence came through and you end up asking the man to accompany you to the burger joint. You mention to him that this will be your first time wandering around in a big city like this, so you were nervous to go by yourself. You figure that, although you don’t know this man and he could potentially be dangerous also, you wouldn’t mind being murdered by someone handsome like him. Plus, there’s that familiarity kicking in again. You don’t know where it’s coming from, but it’s somehow putting you at ease.

Surprisingly, he agrees to go with you. Apparently, he is also worried, because he knows the chips are not going to be enough. He confesses that he actually snuck in four chips in his sweater when no one was looking.

Your walk to the burger joint and back is very pleasant. You two mainly talk about what you were learning in the workshop so far. Occasionally, he would recommend some places to visit if you ever come back once it’s safe again. Turns out, he’s not from around here either, so he knows the best touristy spots. 

You get back to the venue and decide to sit on the opposite sides of a bench to eat your food. You two agree that it’s okay to eat together without the mask on at a fairly safe distance since you both tested negative a few days prior.

You take off your mask and take a huge, long-awaited bite of your burger. Your sister was right. It tastes amazing! You turn in the direction of your new acquaintance to share the excitement when you finally see his whole face. Your jaw drops and you almost drop your food along with it. Thankfully, your hungry subconscious wakes you up in time to catch your precious lunch.

The man is startled by your goof and is laughing at you again. This time you definitely recognize the laugh, the voice, the face, everything. You’ve heard and seen him so often through your screen, especially more during the quarantine. You can’t believe that you’re really sitting on the same bench as Xiao Dejun of your favorite band WayV!

“Are you okay?” He asks between his laughs. “What are you doing?”

“Okay, don’t be freaked out, because I’m kinda freaking out, but I’m trying not to freak out, but I know who you are.” You blabber trying to not scare him off, but probably did.

“Oh..” he responds, “You know me?”

“Yes! I’m a huge fan!” You reply, a little too excited. “But I’m not a sasaeng or anything. I promise! I didn’t even realize it was you until I saw you without your mask on. If you’re uncomfortable, I’ll go sit on a different bench to eat.”

He smiles and takes another bite of his burger. “I can’t kick my precious fan away,” he assures, “plus, you introduced me to this really great burger. Let’s enjoy our lunch together!” 

You let out a sigh of relief and thank him. You’re so glad that he’s as kind as you imagined he would be, because you’re actually too lazy to get up right now. The two of you continue to eat your burgers in silence when you eventually relax and gain courage to strike up a conversation again. 

“By the way, I saw ‘Hello, My Youth’. You did really well in it,” you start.

He smiles sheepishly and replies, “Really? I was very nervous about acting in it.”

“You did great! I had a lot of fun watching the whole thing. You’re really talented, man!” You affirm.

“Thank you,” his smile is bigger now, “I’m so glad you enjoyed it!”

“I really did! And you should do more acting in the future. I think you could definitely do well in a romance drama.”

“Romance? Really?” He asks unconvinced.

“Yeah! You pull off that ‘I’m in love with you’ face super well.”

“The what?”

“You know! That look you give that makes it seem like you’re in love with someone. I legit thought you were in love with Ten for a really long time. You should really hone in on that and do a roman..” You stop when you look up and see Xiaojun’s troubled/confused face looking back at you. “Did I say something wrong?” You inquire, confused yourself, trying to recall everything you’ve been rambling about for the past few minutes.

“You think I’m in love with Ten?”

“Oh my god… did I say that out loud?” You let out, horrified, and getting more panicked as more words come out of your mouth. “I didn’t mean it like that.. Well, I did, but I realized it probably wasn’t that... Honestly, I was probably just projecting, because I personally love Ten so much. Like he’s so talented and handsome and hardworking and overall amazing, that I think I might have been seeking the same kind of reaction from everybody else. Anyway, I saw you make that face in the drama on that episode where you were trying to get the other main character’s attention, so I figured it was just an expression you make naturally. It’s kinda weird, but I really think that, if you use that expression in a romantic scene, you’d for sure have people swooning for you, you know?” You over explain, hoping to diffuse the situation.

“Uh… thanks, I guess?” He awkwardly responds, as he turns away from you and goes back to eating his burger in silence.

In return, you also turn away and try to finish eating your lunch without choking on the tense atmosphere you’ve accidentally created.

As you take the last bite of your burger, you hear Xiaojun mumbling something. Not sure if he was talking to you, you ask to clarify what he was saying.

“Do you speak Chinese?” He asks.

“Mandarin or Cantonese?” You reply back.

“Mandarin.”

“Nope.”

“Cantonese?”

“No..”

“Then why’d you give options?”

“I got nervous.” You answer, regretting everything.

He chuckles lightly. “You’re so weird.”

“Yup,” you unabashedly agree. “Actually, I do know how to say 3 things! ‘Cute’, ‘ Handsome’, and ‘Hello, we are WayV!’”

This time Xiaojun laughs his guts out and you laugh along with him. You’re glad that your stupidity is lightening the mood and is providing entertainment for the beautiful man.

When the laughter dies down, Xiaojun looks at you with a semi-stern, semi-embarrassed face. “Is it okay if I rant to you for a bit? I mean, you won’t understand it, but I just have a few things to get off my chest.”

“Of course!” You respond, “Just make sure you avoid those 3 phrases, and you can spill your heart out. I’ll nod along, so it’ll feel like you’re talking to someone who really gets it.”

He smiles. He starts by saying a few things with a few pauses here and there. You nod along, as promised, for the full effect. As he goes on with the rant, he gets really passionate. He’s speaking faster and making more expressions, you almost wish you really did understand what he was saying, but then again, he wouldn’t be doing this if that was the case. At some point in the one sided conversation, you decide to shake your head instead of nodding for the heck of it, which seems to startle Xiaojun.

“Wait, did you understand that?” 

“Huh?” You reply in confusion, “No, I just shook my head to spice it up. Was it the wrong answer? Sorry. I’ll just keep nodding.”

He slowly starts saying a few things in Chinese again to test the waters. You continue to nod and smile at whatever he says. The “conversation” then goes on for another few minutes, and when he’s done, he thanks you for willingly sitting there and listening to him talk for so long. You assure him that it was no big deal and that you’re actually happy that you got to provide a small bit of help. 

The hour of break then comes to an end, and you both go back to the workshop, stomachs full and hearts and minds ready for the next section.

\------

Dejun finally arrives at the dorm building. After the day-long workshop, he’s ready to lie down in bed for the next few hours. As he reaches the dorm’s door, he’s reminded of the fan he met today. She was adorable and absolutely funny. He’s glad that he got to meet her. He hopes that she’ll get back home safely. 

When he opens the door, he’s greeted by the human stench of their dorm and the sound of Ten teaching Louis and Leon how to do new tricks. A smile spreads on Dejun’s face and a warm feeling spreads through his body. 

She was right. 

He’s smitten.

He doesn’t even know how she figured it out. He was so sure that he kept his feelings well hidden. No one around him suspects anything. He’s seen a few fans pair them up, but not many and not really in that way. At least not the way they like to pair Ten up with Johnny or Kun… 

Okay, not the time to get jealous. Plus, what’s he even jealous of? Their friendship? Their fake relationships in their fans’ imaginations? Either way, he has no right to be jealous. He and Ten are not together. They are friends and colleagues, and he would never do anything to jeopardize that. Especially, not when their careers are only just beginning and finally starting to take off.

A big reason why Dejun is grateful for the fan he met earlier is because she let him rant about his ever growing feelings for Ten. How it all started with respect and admiration for him, because she was right, Ten is “so talented and handsome and hardworking and overall amazing”. And how after really getting to hang out with Ten and getting to know more about him outside of their work, those feelings of respect and admiration grew into love. A love that he’s trying to push down so it won’t affect their work and friendship, but has really been building up to the point of frustration. 

He didn’t want to burden any of his members with this potentially career threatening secret. He wasn’t really comfortable telling any of his other friends or his family, because he hasn’t come out about his sexuality to them yet. It’s really been weighing him down for a while now. Letting it all out to his sweet fan definitely lifted a lot off his shoulder, even though she didn’t understand anything. Although, she did scare him when she shook her head as he asked her if she thought that the decision he’s making of never telling Ten about his feelings is the right thing to do. 

It is the right thing to do.. right? 

He looks at Ten again, but this time the other is staring back at him. “Why’re you hanging out by the door?” 

“Oh. uh… I don’t know.” Dejun shuffles to take his shoes off and enters the living room.

“You’re so weird, Jun!” Ten laughs. Witnessing that beautiful, beaming laughter, Dejun can’t help but smile again. “How was your workshop thing?”

Dejun plops down on the sofa and snuggles Bella as he tells Ten about his day, redacting the bits about the ranting. He’s already feeling rejuvenated just talking and joking around with Ten. He decides that he’ll stay out here and keep Ten company. He can always go to his room and sleep later. 

Maybe then, he’ll even try to get in contact with the fan from the workshop. He managed to get her to share her soundcloud with him, so maybe he can link up with her again at some point. He has a feeling he’s gonna need another rant session, because he’s nowhere close to getting over Ten any time soon.

**Author's Note:**

> Welp. There you go :)


End file.
